HCV is an RNA virus belonging to the Flaviviridae family. Individual isolates consist of closely related, yet heterologous populations of viral genomes. This genetic diversity enables the virus to escape the host's immune system, leading to a high rate of chronic infection. The flavivirus group to which HCV belongs is known to include the causative agents of numerous human diseases transmitted by arthropod vectors. Human diseases caused by flaviviruses include various hemorrhagic fevers, hepatitis, and encephalitis. Viruses known to cause these diseases in humans have been identified and include, for example, yellow fever virus, dengue viruses 1-4, Japanese encephalitis virus, Murray Valley encephalitis virus, Rocio virus, West Nile fever virus, St. Louis encephalitis virus, tick-borne encephalitis virus, Louping ill virus, Powassan virus, Omsk hemorrhagic fever virus, and Kyasanur forest disease virus. A critical need therefore also exists for treating animals, as well as humans, infected with at least one virus, such as a flavivirus and/or pestivirus.
More than 40 million people worldwide are chronically infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV), and this represents one of the most serious threats to the public health of developed nations (Hoofnagle et al., New Engl. J. Med. 336:347-356, 1997). Hepatitis C infection is the cause of more than 10,000 deaths annually in the United States (Washington Post, Nov. 11, 1997, at A2), a number that is expected to triple in the next twenty years in the absence of effective intervention. Chronic HCV also increases the risk of liver cancer. There are more than 40 million people worldwide who are chronically infected with HCV, representing one of the most serious threats to the public health of developed nations (Hoofnagle et al., ibid.). Persistent infection develops in as many as 85% of HCV patients and in at least 20% of these patients the chronic infection leads to cirrhosis within twenty years of onset of infection. With an estimated 3.9 million North Americans chronically infected, complications from hepatitis C infection are now the leading reasons for liver transplantation in the United States.
Another causative agent of acute and chronic liver disease including liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, inflammatory liver disease, and hepatic cancer is hepatitis B virus (HBV) (Joklik, Virology, 3rd Ed., Appleton & Lange, Norwalk, Conn., 1988). Although effective vaccines are available, there are still more than 300 million people worldwide, i.e., 5% of the world's population, chronically infected with the virus (Locamini et al., Antiviral Chemistry & Chemotherapy 7:53-64, 1996). Such vaccines have no therapeutic value for those already infected with the virus. In Europe and North America, between 0.1% to 1% of the population is infected. Estimates are that 15% to 20% of individuals who acquire the infection develop cirrhosis or another chronic disability from HBV infection. Once liver cirrhosis is established, morbidity and mortality are substantial, with about a 5-year patient survival period (Blume et al., Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews 17:321-331, 1995). It is therefore necessary and of high priority to find improved and effective anti-HBV anti-hepatitis therapies (Locamini et al., ibid).
Therapeutic interventions which are effective for treatment of HCV infection are limited in number and effectiveness. Standard treatment for HCV infection includes administration of interferon-alpha. However, interferon-alpha is of limited use in about 20% of the HCV-infected population (Hoofnagle et al., ibid) and treatment with this compound results in long-term improvement in only 5% of patients. Furthermore, the complications and limitations of interferon-alpha seriously limit the applicability of the treatment. An experimental treatment comprising administration of interferon-alpha and ribavirin (1-β-D-ribofuranosyl-1H-1,2,4-triazole-3-carboxamide) resulted in long-term improvement in only half of the patients suffering a relapse of HCV infection (Washington Post, Nov. 11, 1997, at A2). Clearly, the disappointing results with interferon must prompt a search for more effective and less toxic therapeutics. Thus, a critical need remains for a therapeutic intervention that effectively treats HCV infection or supplements those otherwise available.
In addition to those people chronically infected with HCV, there are more than 350 million people chronically infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV). More than 150 million of these people are likely to die from liver disease in the absence of intervention. As many as 20 million HBV carriers reside in developed nations, as do most HCV carriers. A large number of individuals who are infected with HCV are also infected with HBV. The therapy for combined HBV/HCV infection is particularly challenging because the HBV and HCV viruses differ from one another in therapeutically significant ways. HBV is a hepadnavirus, while HCV is a pestivirus. HBV is a DNA-containing virus, the genome of which is replicated in the nucleus of the infected cell using a combination of a DNA-dependent RNA polymerase and an RNA-dependent DNA polymerase (i.e., a reverse transcriptase). HCV is an RNA-containing virus, the genome of which is replicated in the cytoplasm of the infected cell using one or more types of RNA-dependent RNA polymerases. Despite the frequent concurrence of HBV infection and HCV infection, a number of compounds known to be effective for treating HBV infection are not effective against HCV. For example, lamivudine (the nucleoside analog 3TC) is useful for treating HBV infection, but is not useful for treating HCV infection. The difference in the susceptibility of HBV and HCV to antiviral agents no doubt relates to their genetically based replicative differences. There remains a particularly critical need for a therapeutic intervention that effectively treats both HBV and HCV infection.
Other hepatitis viruses significant as agents of human disease include hepatitis A, hepatitis Delta, hepatitis E, hepatitis F, and hepatitis G (Coates et al., Exp. Opin. Ther. Patents 5:747-756, 1995). In addition, there are animal hepatitis viruses that are species specific. These include, for example, those infecting ducks, woodchucks, and mice. The availability of animal models allows the preclinical testing of antiviral compounds for each class of virus. Furthermore, animal viruses can cause significant losses to the livestock industry (Sullivan et al., Virus Res. 38:231-239, 1995). Such animal viruses include pestiviruses and flaviviruses such as bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), classical swine fever virus, border disease virus, and hog cholera virus.